3. Release Process for 3.16.1

SH: Fundamental problem is that funding for 3.16 development has not appeared yet.

BD: EPICS 7 needs about 6 months of MD’s time, including the gateway, access security etc.

RL: I think the CA-level security is present in V4 already.

MD: A provider currently can’t find out who is connected with it.

BD: Need to make use of what MS has provided.

MK: ESS has to set up a test environment for this, they are the logical site for this testing.

SH: ESS are claiming to still be pure pvAccess site.

BD: We estimate they need twice the funding they are providing. I’m trying to make pva compelling, but we’re not there yet and only ESS and SLAC are showing funding availability.

SH: Could see a Base release that supports both. What’s the minimum release that we’re comfortable calling EPICS 7. Doesn’t need all the services.

AJ: What else does the link support code need?

MD: Another link type implementation that uses it, doesn’t have to be pvAccess.

BD: Rather have something with a warning that the API may change so other implementations need to be aware if it changes.

MD: Want to avoid any nasty regressions in existing link types.

AJ: Write a new CA link type?

MD: Wanted to for a while, performance improvements possible.

SH: See 3.16 as stepping stone for EPICS 7 release.

BD: Maybe with caveats it would be better to make a 3.16 release than not. Need to name a date and go for a release.

SH: Would be helpful to get an ESS rep on this call.

4. F2F Meeting in Feb/Mar

AJ: March 14-16 at APS, could use this for the final 3.16.1 release work if not done before then, AJ + RL + MD at least will be present.

BD: We should now in a couple weeks if we’ll have the technical stuff done.

KK: Don’t need new link types for EPICS 7; having a single release with CA plus PVA and be able to run AreaDetector and an image server in the default IOC. Currently you need to install lots of pieces to get this to work. Having the gateway is also important.

MK: Gateway and Access Security

SH: Need link support ready for the March meeting, but if not ready we should release the functionality we have.

BD: OK.

KK: Important that this is released, not experimental. We just agreed to update beamlines to the latest 3.14 release, not even 3.15. For the last V4 training we had 2 different VMs, this isn’t compelling.